Signors to the fustian cutting machine com



2 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. E. SMITH, A. GODDARD, L. HIGGINBOTTOM & T. MANNO0.K. APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE FABRICS.

Patented Mar. 10, 1891.

7fz'inessw/ (NdModeL) I ZSheets-Sheet 2. J. E. SMITH, A. GODDARD, L. HIGGINBOTTOM & T. MANNOGK. APPARATUS FOR (HITTING PILE FABRICS. A

No. 448,088. Patented Mar. 10, '1891.

10' A 8 A v m A a g 3 Ira/671 307 MAX/M r Y 1 Minassm /I Z f/lel'rfim,

JAMES HOYLE SMITH, OF ECCLES, ANDREW GODDARD, OF STOCKPORT, AND LLOYD I-IIGGINBOTTOM AND THOMAS MANN OCK, OF MANCHESTER, AS SIGNORS TO THE FUSTIAN CUTTING MACHINE COMPANY, (LIMITED) OF ORDSALL LANE MILLS, SAIJFORD, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,088, dated March 10, v1891. Application filed s tember 22, 1890. Serial No. 365,769. (No model.) Patented in England June 16, 1889, No. 9,863.

.obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 9,863,

dated June 15, 1889,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of apparatus wherein the fabric of which the pile is to be cut is passed below a knife mounted upon a table.

The object of our invention is to improve the means of supporting the handle end of the knife and of causing the level of the knife to grip the edge of the table support ing the same, and in order that our invention may be clearly understood we have annexed hereunto two sheets of drawings and have marked the same with figures and referenceletters corresponding with those in the fol-' lowing description.

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of our improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, part of the table being shown broken away. Fig. 3 is a detached View of part of the knife-handle and level hereinafter referred to. Fig. 4c is a partial front elevation of the table and its supports alone. Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating modified means for supporting the table.

Owing to the uneven nature of the pieces of cloth to be out the race in which the knife is cutting does not run truly in the machine, but sways from side to side, taking the knife with it. In order to enable the knife to follow this lateral motion readily, we make the table carrying theknife free to travel from side to side with the knife by means of arrangements to be presently described, and we cause the level of the knife to grip the front edge of the table by the following arrangement: A hook N is pivoted at a to the back member O of the level in such a manner as to fall over and engage with the rib p riveted to the front edge of the table P. The back member O vibrates on a pin .2 at its upper end, which pin is fixed to a sleeve M on the handle M of the knife. The front member Q orlevel proper is pivoted to'the sleeve M at its up per end and has a projection y at the back, which bears against the face of the back mem- 5 5 ber 0. If now the knife has been enteredin the race and slid forward until the hook N has engaged with the front rib p of the table, (seeFig. l,) then on the machine being started the resistance offered by the cloth to the knife tends to force the knife-handle M backward. The hook N, having hold of the rib 13, cannot move backward, and being pivoted to the back member 0 retains the lower part of this member. When the part 3 on the front member Q, comes in c'ontact with the back member, this front member is tilted, and the more the upper part thereof is pushed back the more tightly will the lower part press against the back of the rib 19, so that the knife-handle M is firmly clamped'to the table 1 and causes this to partake of its lateral motion.

In order to release the knife and level from the table, the handle M is pushed forward, tilting the member Q in a way to release the pressure of its lower end from the rib p, when the hook N can be lifted out of engagement with the rib p to allow the handle to be withdrawn, as indicated at Fig. 3.

At Figs. 1, 2, and at is shown one arrangement of the table for allowing it to follow freely the lateral movement of the knife. In this arrangement the table P is mounted upon its supporting-frame S,with the interposition of rollers R, (by preference of spherical form,) one roller being placed at each corner of the table and made to bear against the planed edges fixed on the framing of the machine and against pieces riveted to the under side 0 of the table, thus allowing the table perfect freedom to move laterally in either direction to .the extent of about two inches from the central position.

Fig. 5 shows an arrangement in which the table P is suspended by two or more cordsT from the ceiling of any convenient part of the machine.

Fig. (5 shows an arrangentient in which the table I is carried upon swinging arms U and U, pivoted at their upper ends to the under side of the table, while the lower ends are free to slide up and down in the fixed slots V V, the arms being connected by pins at their middle to pendulum-arms \V W, the upper ends of which are pivoted to the framing of the machine atXX, so that these arms support the table P and maintain it in one and the same plane while it swings to and fro laterally on the arms U U, the pivots of which offer very little resistance to such motion.

Any liability of the table to be pushed in the direction of the eloths travel by the resistance offered to the knife in cutting may be counteracted either by another pair of horizontal radial arms'pivoted thereto or by horizontal cords or other means. The table may also be controlled by a combination of the arrangements shown at Figs. 5 and 6. This combination is represented by Fig. 6,111 which one of the cords T is shown in dotted lines.

We are aware that an arrangement of k nifetable has been proposed in which the table is capable of being traversed laterally by screw-gear; also, that aconstruction of knifetable has been used'whieh is supported upon the rollersthat carry the cloth and which has side cheeks bearing against the edges of the cloth, so as to have any lateral motion of the latterimparted to it; but these arrangements are different froni and do not accom plish the object of ourinvention, as in neither of them is the table free to follow the lateral motion of the knife alone.

Ve claim as our invention 1. In machines for cutting pile fabrics, the combination of the knife with a level composed of a sleeve or its equivalent fixed to the handle of the knife, a front and a back member pivoted to the sleeve, and a hook pivoted to the back member, the said hook and the front member being adapted to clamp the table when the'knife is forced backward, substantially as and for the'purposes set forth.

2. In machines for cutting pile fabrics, the combination of a knife for cutting the pile fabric with alaterally-movable table to which the knife is clamped, the said table being free to follow the lateral motion of the knife, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In machines for cutting pilefabrics, the col'nbinationof a knife with a table to which the knife is clamped, the said table being mounted upon a supporting-frame and provided with pieces attached to the under side of the table, and rollers between thes'uppo'rting-frame and the table, substantially'as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES HOYLE SMITH. ANDRE? GODDARD; LLOYD HIGGINBOT'IOM. THOMAS MANNOGK. \Vitnesses:

CHARLES A. DAVIES, JNo. HUGHES. 

